Disclaimers: Fullmetal Alchemist and all characters therein belong to Arakawa, BONES, Squenix, and Funimation. Justice League Unlimited and all characters therein belong to DC and whoever published the animated series, WB I think? lulz.

Pain. Pain awoke him, reaching down through the blackness with clawed fingers and yanking him upward. He jolted awake and immediately gasped, the pain stealing the air from his lungs; his next reaction was to grimace, to bite down and push away the pain.

His lungs ached, his breathing rasping painfully in his chest, and it occurred to him that the warm fluid dribbling down his chin tasted like blood. His right shoulder and left thigh burned, and a nauseating surge of grief and regret struck him with the thought that his arm and leg had been taken again, too soon after Al had fixed him so beautifully.

Al. Al.

Edward Elric opened his eyes to a skyline he did not know. Massive structures of glass and concrete towered around him on all sides. Smoke choked the air and dimmed the mid-afternoon sky.

He gagged on the smoke and the need to cry out at the pain eating away at him. Slowly, shakily, Ed raised his head, inspecting his own form.

Golden eyes bulged at what they saw.

He had his arm and leg again—his metal ones. The automail he had grown so accustomed to over his four-year journey was back in place. His body burned as if he had just undergone full automail surgery again, but this time with clumsier hands than the Rockbells'.

The…the Gate took my arm and leg and gave me back my automail…? The thought was so incredulous that its significance was utterly lost to the thinker.

And Ed didn't have time to contemplate, either. An explosion went off to his right, shaking the concrete upon which the boy lay.

Edward heaved himself into a sitting position, grinding his teeth as he worked through the rawness of his freshly implanted automail joints. Golden eyes roved about, quickly taking in their surroundings—several fresh potholes in the black asphalt, an overturned car that had been belching smoke since before he awoke, and a settling cloud of dust and debris to his right.

The alchemist set his jaw and struggled to his feet. He bit down on a sharp cry as he put weight on the automail leg.

It's a damn war zone. Have to move. Move, Edward Elric.

He hobbled three shaky steps before his balance gave and he went toppling over.

Ed pushed himself up with his good arm, his eyes squinted shut in pain—his left leg lay trapped beneath him. The alchemist let out a growl, shifting his weight in an attempt to free the leg. His frustrated struggle was interrupted as the ache in his lungs asserted itself; he fell to his side as a coughing fit seized him.

Too much smoke…

He could feel his consciousness trying to drift away with the smoke, could see his surroundings begin to blur.

I'm gonna die if I don't get out of here.

Ed raised his good arm again to try to lift himself off the ground, but the dizziness grew too persistent. It was so much easier to just lie where he was, despite the rough asphalt grating the bare skin of his torso.

Al…I'm alive, even after…I can't die now, not here…

Something black and solid tumbled out of the grey-brown clouds of smoke and debris in front of Ed.

Edward blinked. The thing grunted as it hit the ground, but it looked too amorphous to be a person…

…until the thing stood up, revealing itself to be a tall man in a large black cape. The man's mouth was the only thing visible beneath his cowl and mask, and Ed watched him grimace at something Ed couldn't see, something hidden in the cloud of dust.

A hail of gunfire erupted out of the smoke. The black-caped man darted out of the way, disappearing behind an overturned car like a trailing shadow.

It suddenly occurred to Ed that he was physically incapable of getting out of the way.

"Shit!" The blond wrapped his head in his arms, trying to curl into the smallest ball possible so as to present less of a target. Lying on his side with his own leg still trapped under him, all he could really manage was protecting his head.

A sharp cry ripped from him as a bullet grazed his ribs.

"DAMNIT!"

Pain and adrenaline were good incentives to throw caution to the wind.

Grimacing with fury, Edward Elric unwrapped his arms and clapped them across his chest.

When he twisted to slam his palms to the ground, he was genuinely surprised to see the blue light crackling beneath his fingertips.

The air seared with transmutation light, and with a grinding and shifting of stone, a thick wall emerged out of the asphalt in front of the alchemist. A relieved breath escaped him now that bullets had ceased to whiz over his head.

Another coughing fit seized Edward's compact form. His arms pulled to his chest and he curled inward upon himself as his chest heaved again and again. When the convulsive coughing passed, he merely lay on his side, trying to focus on one thing: breathe.

His vision started to fade again. His sense of hearing rapidly deteriorated as blackness encroached upon him. Vaguely, Ed registered a warm wetness coating his side and idly wondered how much blood he'd lost.

A black shape moved at the periphery of Ed's sight. Something touched his neck, but he could no longer discern temperature or texture.

"Smoke inhalation," someone muttered, miles above him. Ed twitched; the voice was deep, too deep, like his father's…stupid old man, picked a hell of a time to show, wanna punch your FACE—

"Breathe, kid. Just breathe. Hang in there."

Ed's thoughts began to slip away from him, slithering down a black well towards oblivion. Don't have to tell ME to breathe, genius…gonna…not gonna die yet…Al, where is…Al…

The rest of Ed's mind toppled into the well and was enveloped by darkness.

Author's Notes: Short chapters are short. Sorry about that, friends. These chapters were originally 1.) written on notebook paper and 2.) published on deviantART. Crossposting is for the win. :3

This one was written entirely in my Econ class last year. Good God that class was boring. T_T

I was going to do Batman's POV next, which was why I froze up after writing this chapter, but serious rethinking has made me decide to stick to Edward's POV until further notice. Sorry JLU fans, but my Journalism teacher told me to write what I know, and what I know best is the inside of Edward Elric's head. (For now.)

Also, despite this series being TOTALLY not finished, it inspired an already-almost-complete series that was a collab betwixt myself and another fanfiction authoress. (The title is "Path of Ouroborus.") We essentially crossed over our crossovers—we're talkin' Fullmetal Alchemist/Justice League Unlimited x Resident Evil/Starcraft/Homeworld. Talk about your multi-canon madness. XD; If any readers of this fic are at all interested in seeing that one, please give a holler. It's not too far away from posting quality; we just need to sit down and edit it.